Since I started making French toast in a baking dish I’ve never looked back. Not only do you not need to fry individual slices of ­bread, you don’t need to do anything in the morning besides preheat your oven and slide in the tray you prepared the previous night. Even better, you can make the French toast casserole as deep and decadent as you ­like.­ On the stove, it’s hard to get the centres of thick slices to set; in the oven, they always do.

I came late to cinnamon toast – buttery toast, thickly coated with cinnamon sugar and grilled until it becomes just caramelised enough that the heavens open up.

I could blame my Yankee upbringing, I could blame the fact that I don’t think I ever saw white bread in my parents’ house. Or I could just do my best to make up for lost time. This recipe does its best, and it feeds a crowd. I routinely question why I bother making anything else for breakfast.

Serves 8

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

100g sugar

16 slices white sandwich bread

115g unsalted butter, softened

700ml whole milk

6 large eggs

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Maple syrup, yogurt and/or berries, to serve

Preheat your oven to 230C/gas mark 8. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a small dish. Line two large baking sheets with foil. Place the bread slices on the baking sheets in one layer. Spread each slice of bread with a teaspoon of butter, then sprinkle each slice with a teaspoon of the ­cinnamon-­sugar mixture. Toast the trays of bread in the oven until the bread is golden, and the cinnamon sugar makes a caramelised crunch on top, about seven to 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Reduce the oven to 190C/gas mark 5.

Generously butter a ­23 x 32cm baking dish. (You may have a little butter left over, but I wanted to build in some leeway in case, understandably, you weren’t buttering your bread with precise teaspoon measurements.)

Cut two slices of the cinnamon toast in half horizontally and set aside. Arrange the baking dish so that the longer side is facing you on the counter. Place the bottom half of a divided slice of cinnamon toast in the upper left-hand corner, cut side facing left. Arrange your first full slice of cinnamon toast on top of it, so that the upper crust of the slice meets the left side of the pan. Arrange six more slices across the top of the dish, crusts in the same direction, overlapping each slightly. Finish with the top of a divided slice of toast.

Repeat across the bottom of the pan, with the toasts facing the opposite direction. Whisk the milk, eggs, salt and vanilla in a medium bowl and pour over the toast in the baking dish. Let it sit for 15 minutes so that the custard absorbs.

Before baking, if you’ve got any extra cinnamon sugar sprinkle it over the French toast. Bake for 30 minutes until puffed and golden and no liquid seeps out of the toasts when they are nudged in the pan. Cut into squares and serve plain, with maple syrup, or with a dollop of plain yogurt and fresh berries.

You can prepare the dish up to the point where you add the custard, cover it with clingfilm, and rest it in the fridge overnight. Bake it directly from the fridge in the morning, just adding a few minutes to the baking time.